India Has the Second Largest Anime Fandom: Crunchyroll President

Rahul Purini, the president of Crunchyroll, said that India has the second-largest anime fandom in the world. He made the announcement at an event in Mumbai on July 20.

“India is a special place for Crunchyroll,” said Purini. “It has the second-largest anime fandom on the planet and will drive 60% of the global growth in anime interest in the next few years. We see first hand how much love there is for anime here, which is why we have been expanding our content catalogue. We now have over 500 titles, 3800 hours of content and 7500 episodes – making us the largest anime catalogue in India.”

Purini’s comments come as anime is enjoying a boom in popularity in India. Many people have grown up watching anime and are now watching and seeking them out. There was a time when there were no official ways to watch anime in India, save for Netflix, but now nearly every seasonal show is licensed for India. Besides streaming, even TV channels are now seeing a resurgence in telecasting anime.

The growth of anime fandom in India is being driven by a number of factors, including the increasing availability of anime content, the growing popularity of social media, and the rising affluence of the Indian middle class.

“Our team does very thorough research and analysis for all of our markets to better serve the anime community, and anime fans in India have been some of the most vocal in their desire for an accessible and convenient way to stream their favorite series,” Crunchyroll’s chief operating officer, Brady McCollum, told IGN India in an interview.

Crunchyroll began its Indian operations in 2022 and has since expanded its offerings to include Hindi dubs, with Telugu and Tamil dubs in the pipeline. Additionally, the company has collaborated with popular Indian actors to promote its streaming service in the country.